computex 2017 News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 by TLS - 3 Comments

Seco brings Snapdragon to the NUC form factor

At Computex last week, Seco was showing off its SBC-B47-eNUC board that’s based on Intel’s NUC (Next Unit of Computing) form factor. NUC type of devices have proven to be fairly popular with companies like Gigabyte, MSI, Asus and ASRock among others having jumped on the trend. However, Seco’s solution is quite different as it’s using a Snapdragon 410E SoC rather than an Intel based processor. Spec wise you’re looking at: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz with Adreno 306 GPU @ 400MHz System Memory – up to 2GB LP-DDR3 Storage – micro SD slot, Optional eMMC Video Output & Display I/F – mini DP, LVDS Audio – 3.5mm combo mic/speaker jack, internal pin-header for speakers, mic and headphones, I2S pin-header Connectivity – 10/100Mbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth LE 4.0 USB – 1x micro USB client port port, 2x USB host port (one front, one […]

June 5, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MediaTek Unveils MT7686, MT7682, and MT5932 WiFi SoCs for IoT and Smart Home Applications

Beside announcing MT7622 SoC for WiFi and Bluetooth 5 gateways and routers last week, Mediatek also introduced three “next generation” WiFi SoCs for the IoT and the Smart Home market during Computex 2017, namely MT7686, MT7682, and MT5932. Mediatek MT7686 is a wide temperature range WiFi SoC for appliances: MCU – ARM Cortex-M4F @ 192 MHz System Memory – 4MB + 384KB RAM Storage – 4 MB flash with XIP support Connectivity – Low-power 1T1R 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi subsystem Peripherals – SDIO I/F, UART, I2C, SPI, I2S, PWM, and auxiliary ADC Power Supply – Integrated Power Management Unit (PMU) Power Consumption – Connected DTIM1 <0.7mA Temperature Range – “Wide” Package – QFN48 (6x6mm) Mediatek MT7682 is promoted as a cost-effective, integrated SoC for multi-Cloud platforms: MCU – ARM Cortex-M4F @ 192 MHz System Memory – 384KB RAM Storage – 512 KB or 1 MB flash with XIP support Connectivity – […]

June 3, 2017June 3, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Zotac PI225 Ultra Slim Apollo Lake Mini PC is Smaller than a 2.5″ SSD, About as Thick as a Smartphone

We’ve covered a large number of tiny mini PCs and TV sticks powered by Intel processors, but usually they are thicker than your smartphone because of USB, HDMI, and Ethernet ports if the latter is included. Zotac decided to leverage USB type C data and display capabilities to do away with USB & HDMI ports, and used a micro USB port for power in their latest Zotac PI225 mini PC resulting in an ultra thin (8mm) mini PC that is smaller than a 2.5″ SSD. Zotac PI225 mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.1 / 2.4 GHz with 12 EU Intel HD Graphics 500 (6W TDP) System Memory – 4 GB LPDDR3 Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash, micro SDXC slot USB – 2x USB 3.0 type C connectors with data and DisplayPort support Connectivity – 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 Power […]

June 2, 2017 by TLS - 10 Comments

LyCOM shows off a range of Raspberry Pi Hats at Computex 2017

Taiwanese LyCOM, a maker of various I/O accessories showed off a range of Raspberry Pi compatible expansion boards at Computex. Some of them are rather unusual, such as the Pi-112 which adds M.2 drive support. LyCOM also offers modules that adds SATA and mSATA support. Common among all three modules is that they use a USB to SATA bridge chip, although unfortunately I wasn’t able to determine who the manufacturer of the bridge chip was, as all the hats were in a glass display case. All three hats have a micro USB connector that needs to be connected to one of the USB ports on the Raspberry Pi board, but they can also be connected via a pin-header. The M.2 adapter also has a second micro USB port for power and it’s of course only compatible with SATA based M.2 drives. LyCOM was also showing off a full-size SD card […]

May 30, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Qualcomm Unveils Mesh Networking WiFi Router / Gateway Reference Design Powered by IPQ40x8/9 NSoC

Qualcomm has just announced the Qualcomm Mesh Networking Platform for OEM and broadband providers to design home WiFi routers/gateways capable of providing “robust and consistent connectivity”, and feature voice control capabilities, centralized management and security, and a range of mesh system features. In order to speed up adoption the the platform, the company introduced the Qualcomm Mesh Networking Reference Design with the following key features & benefits: Network System-on-Chip (NSoC) – Qualcomm IPQ40x8/9 network system-on-chip with four Cortex A7 cores, 802.11ac WiFi 2×2+2×2, network and crypto accelerators Qualcomm Wi-Fi Self-Organizing (SON) feature suite will ensure corner-to-corner Wi-Fi coverage, easy set-up, automatic management and traffic optimization, as well as additional security safeguards. Carrier-Grade features with Wi-Fi SON APIs, cloud-based diagnostics Integrated voice capabilities thanks to built-in microphone array and speaker, voice recognition software, and APIs support for popular cloud-based assistant applications. Variety of backhaul options to be used to maximize the […]

May 30, 2017May 30, 2017 by TLS - 2 Comments

ACT Power unveils its Project-X A1 production ready development board at Computex 2017

These days developer boards are a dime a dozen, but Taiwanese ACT Power has taken a different approach from most companies out there by making their addition production ready. The Project-X A1 is the first in what is expected to be a series of boards that will utilize the same mezzanine board connectors, to make it easy to change hardware platforms over time. The board on display at Computex is still an early prototype and some things will change before the final product launches. Specification wise we’re looking at: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU @ 600 MHz System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage 8GB eMMC flash, SD card slot Video Output – 1x HDMI 1.4a up to 4K @ 30 Hz Audio Output – HDMI, I2S via pin-header Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet with optional PoE support USB – Two […]